Modern Giant robots vs Godzillas?

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2013)

I can't believe this actually got financed and made. It's like a geek boy's dream and it has no big name actors. You basically have giant monster-beasts coming out through a dimensional breach in the Pacific Ocean (hence the title), trying to destroy a world that fights back by uniting and creating giant robots (or mecha) piloted by humans. The war seems to be mostly won because of these until new, more dangerous monsters start coming out years later at a faster frequency. At that time, only a few giant robots remain in fighting shape, the rest being destroyed or decommissioned, with less than a dozen pilots remaining. The end is near unless something drastic happens.
So, most people will want to watch this because of the spectacular giant robots versus giant monsters fights, and it certainly delivers, but with some caveats. The monsters look great, even real, and not corny at all as in most Godzilla-type movies (no rubber suit here). However, near the end, they become harder to differentiate and I didn't always know who was who. They changed the red blood to some blue glow-in-the-dark blood. The monsters being alien, it makes sense and avoids making things too bloody. The monsters lack personality and are just portrayed as destructive beasts, but I won't hold that against the creators. The robots look cool and have an imposing physical presence despite the near-constant avoidance of showing them next to humans for scale. They didn't look that much computer-generated to me although I knew they were. The robots and monsters looked their size (massive) because of their ponderous, slower than real-life movements, as well as the sound effects that were excellent. The fights themselves were enjoyable and didn't overstay their welcome. I didn't suffer from action fatigue as when fights last too long without real stakes. However, because of close-ups, fast editing and lots of rain, it wasn't always clear what was going on, so the action could have been better. I did love it though.
Story-wise, the creators do provide an explanation that makes some sense for this monster invasion. I would even quality the story as interesting although a bit predictable although the accents were sometimes difficult to understand. It's a shame most of the secondary characters were not really developed because they looked interesting. One of my most memorable moments involved a "flashback" involving a little girl running away from a giant monster (she acted so well). Acting was acceptable with the highlight being Idris Elba as the Marshall. Most emotional dramatic moments unfortunately did not really connect with me except for the stuff involving the Marshall and the Japanese woman. The b-story involving 2 eccentric scientists wasn't really great, nor was it particularly funny although it tried to. It was good for a change of pace though.
For some realistic, amazing-looking "live-action" giant robot versus giant monsters that don't look fake, this is great stuff. It doesn't look cartoony, it's not corny and you don't need to be a total geek to enjoy it. Don't watch if you're allergic to the subject matter though. I'm a geek and I probably liked the movie more because it reminded me of some great mecha anime (such as Neon Genesis Evangelion) without really looking like it.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (very good)